‘AN ODOR OF MENDACITY’: The job of John Sopko, the Pentagon’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, is to make sure the taxpayers’ money is well spent. But in his role auditing the nation-building efforts of the U.S. government over the years, he couldn’t help noticing the stark difference between the reports coming back to Washington, and what he and his team of investigators were seeing on the ground.
“I’m inspector general for reconstruction, not for how well a job we did on the warfighting, but on the training in the military we look at … there was a disconnect almost from my first trip over there,” Sopko told Congress yesterday.
In response to a question from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Elliot Engel about the so-called “Afghanistan Papers,” published last month by the Washington Post, Sopko said, “The problem is there is a disincentive really, to tell the truth.”
“We have created an incentive to almost require for people to lie,” Sopko said. “I don’t want to sound like something from Burl Ives in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but there is an odor of mendacity throughout the Afghanistan issue … mendacity and hubris.”
THEY CAN’T HELP THEMSELVES: The reason neither the president nor the Congress nor the American people get the unvarnished truth, Sopko says, is that every new commander sent to Afghanistan has a mission to show success. It’s not so much that they are lying to us, but that they are lying to themselves.
“You create from the bottom up, an incentive because of short time frames, you’re there for six months, nine months or year to show success. That gets reported up the chain and before you know it, the president is talking about a success that doesn’t exist,” Sopko testified. “I think that’s a good issue to look at — not whether there was lying, but why? And what does that tell us about the way we do business? Whether it’s in Afghanistan or maybe here in the United States.”
‘TURNED THE CORNER’: The most notable example of overoptimistic assessment came from Gen. John Nicholson, head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan in 2017, who told Pentagon reporters in a remote briefing from Kabul that the U.S. and its Afghan partners had “turned the corner” and that “momentum is now with Afghan security forces” who were now “on a path to a win.”
It’s a pattern that Sen. Elizabeth Warren noted in Tuesday night Democratic presidential debate. “On the Senate Armed Services Committee, we have one general after another in Afghanistan who comes in and says, you know, we’ve just turned the corner and now it’s all going to be different. And then what happens? It’s all the same for another year. Someone new comes in and we’ve just turned the corner,” Warren said adding a line she’s used many times before. “We’ve turned the corner so many times, we’re going in circles.”
BACKFIRED: Sopko also observed the law of unintended consequences firsthand in Afghanistan, noting in his opening statement that U.S. policy actually aided resurgence of the Taliban by supporting alliances with corrupt warlords, the Washington Examiner’s Russ Read reports.
“The coalition paid warlords to provide security and, in many cases, to run provincial and district administrations, on the assumption that the United States would eventually hold those warlords to account when they committed acts of corruption or brutality,” he said. “That accounting rarely took place — and the abuses committed by coalition aligned warlords drove many Afghans into the arms of the resurgent Taliban.”
ALL THEY WANTED WAS ‘PEACE AND JUSTICE’: Sopko said the biggest mistake the U.S made was trying to create an American style democracy in a nation that never had a central government or western-style institutions, “trying to give the Afghans what we had when they only wanted a little bit of peace and a little bit of justice.”
“They wanted a little bit of justice. What did we do? We built courthouses. They weren’t looking for courthouses,” Sopko said. “They were looking for just simple justice.”
ANOTHER BAD REPORT CARD: Sopko, whose quarterly reports to Congress and supplemental “Lessons Learned” reports have been unfailingly critical of the lack of progress and massive waste of money, gave the overall effort another failing grade.
Asked by Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman of California if the U.S. earned a D- or an F in building up Afghanistan, Sopko answered: “E. You showed up for class. That’s it.”
Good Thursday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Susan Katz Keating (@SKatzKeating). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will not be published Monday, Jan. 20 in observance of the federal holiday honoring the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr.
HAPPENING TODAY: The Senate Armed Services Committee considers the nominations of James McPherson to be undersecretary of the Army and Charles Williams to be assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations and environment. Live stream at 9:30 a.m. at https://www.defense.gov/Watch/Live-Events
SCHUMER VOWS WALL FIGHT: Democrats failed to get restrictions on President Trump’s authority to reprogram military construction funds to pay for border barriers included in this years defense policy or budget bills, and now they are beginning to regret it.
On the floor of the Senate yesterday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against what he called plans to steal funding from military families, based on an as-yet unconfirmed report in the Washington Post that President Trump is planning to use $7.2 billion funds for border security.
“Senate Democrats strongly oppose this action,” Schumer said. “We will force yet another vote to terminate the president’s bogus national emergency declaration and return these much-needed military construction funds back to the military, to the men and women in our armed forces and to their families.”
“President Trump is once again subverting the will of Congress, once again thumbing his nose at the Constitution,” Schumer said. “The Founders gave Congress the power of the purse, not the president, and this chamber has refused repeatedly to fund the president’s wall.”
Schumer expressed the hope Republicans will join Democrats in rebuffing the administration’s effort, but there is no sign they will, despite claims that Trump’s move faces bipartisan opposition
UNDERCUTS PENTAGON: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith argued that the money grab undercuts the argument that defense is perpetually underfunded.
“Each year we hear from our leaders at the Pentagon that they don’t have enough money. They testify before Congress that any cuts to their funding would be disastrous for our national security,” Smith said in a statement. “If that is in fact true, then how can the President steal billions more from the Department of Defense without seriously undermining our national security?”
DEAD OR ALIVE? The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal is claiming that the Pentagon quietly quashed an announcement that a key al Qaeda leader was killed last year because it would undercut the narrative that the Taliban was cutting ties with al Qaeda.
The report claims the U.S. military killed Asim Umar, the emir of al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent last September, but suppressed a press release that would have announced the death because it “would complicate future negotiations with the Taliban.”
“Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, has claimed throughout ‘peace’ negotiations that the Taliban would sever ties with al Qaeda,” writes Bill Roggio, editor of FDD’s Long War Journal. “Umar’s presence with the Taliban cast further doubt Khalilzad’s claim that the Taliban is truly willing to split with its longtime battlefield allies.”
TURKEY’S SLOW EXIT FROM F-35 PROGRAM: It’s taking longer than some expected to boot Turkey out the F-35 program, as a consequence of it’s purchase of Russian air defenses in defiance of an ultimatum from Washington.
Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen Lord told reporters at Tuesday’s Defense Writers Group breakfast that it could take until the end of the year to fully cut Turkey out of the loop, according to Air Force Magazine.
“The majority of our supply chain will be out of Turkey by March,” Lord said, explaining that Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney have “contracts that may carry out to the end of the year.”
INDUSTRY WATCH: News and notes from press releases, news reports, and Pentagon announcements
Boeing has announced fourth quarter 2019 deliveries across its commercial and defense operations, posting a 16-year low. “Deliveries and new orders for its jetliners hit their lowest point in more than a decade as the global grounding of the 737 MAX undermined the aerospace giant’s business,” reported the Wall Street Journal. “The U.S. plane maker in 2019 handed over 380 aircraft, including military versions of its jetliners, a 14-year-low that compares with a record 863 deliveries by European rival Airbus SE. Boeing delivered 806 planes in 2018, a high for the company.”
Lockheed Martin has won a $31.9 million contract for the Operational Fires (OpFires) Phase 3 Weapon System Integration program, by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. OpFires seeks to develop and demonstrate an innovative ground-launched system to enable a hypersonic boost glide missile system to penetrate modern enemy air defenses and rapidly engage time-sensitive targets.
Lockheed Martin has also seen its IBD SmartSelect Composite Rating jump to 96, up from 93 Monday, according to Investor’s Business Daily. “The new score means the company is now outperforming 96% of all stocks in terms of the most important fundamental and technical stock-picking criteria,” said IBD.
Telephonics Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon Corporation, has announced it’s been awarded first place in the Navy’s Marine Air/Ground Task Force, Unmanned Aerial System, Expeditionary Airborne Early Warning Payload prize challenge with its submission of a MOSAIC® Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) based radar. The prize challenge was established as an innovative solution to deliver the MUX to the Marines sooner, while providing the best performance per dollar of investment.
Raytheon has signed an exclusive teaming agreement with Major Tool & Machine, Inc. to develop array structures for the Navy’s SPY-6 radar program when it transitions from low-rate initial production to hardware production and sustainment.
NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the SpaceX Crew Dragon launch escape demonstration, as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, which is working with U.S. companies to launch American astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil.
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: ‘A delaying mechanism’: Another fight brewing over European sanctions on Iran
Washington Examiner: ‘A final implosion’: Regime in Iran will soon collapse, says shah’s son
Washington Examiner: Top US general warns NATO allies against becoming ‘complacent’ about peace
Washington Post: Days before Europeans warned Iran of nuclear deal violations, Trump secretly threatened to impose 25% tariff on European autos if they didn’t
Military.com: Army May Send Missile-Defense Systems to Middle East to Counter Future Iran Strikes
Task & Purpose: Most Afghan troops and police are ‘a hopeless nightmare and a disaster,’ special inspector general tells Congress
Breaking Defense: Army To Navy: Hey, We Already Get Less $$ Than You
Military.com: Navy’s Top Admiral Has No Apologies Over Carrier Lincoln’s Extra-Long Deployment
Defense News: The U.S. Navy’s Top Officer Says He’ll Trade Growing The Fleet For Readiness
AP: Taiwan Holds Latest Military Drills Following Elections
Reuters: ‘If Anything Happens, We Can Scramble’: Taiwan’s Air Force Pilots On The Front Line With Mainland China
Washington Examiner: ‘Exceptional leader’: Army identifies Green Beret killed in parachuting accident
Breaking Defense: ‘Massive Improvement’ In Accuracy Of Iran Missiles Over Scud-B
Air Force Magazine: Report: MQ-9 Crash Caused by Faulty Engine Design
Washington Examiner: Opinion: How Vladimir Putin just consolidated his power
Calendar
THURSDAY | JANUARY 16
8 a.m. 300 First St. N.E. — Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies and the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center forum on “National Nuclear Security Administration: The Cornerstone of Strategic Nuclear Deterrence,” with Energy Undersecretary for Nuclear Security Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. http://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org
8 a.m. 2799 Richmond Hwy., Arl. — Surface Navy Association’s 32nd National Symposium, with Adm. Christopher Grady, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces and commander, U.S. Naval Forces Northern Command; Vice Adm. Thomas Moore, commander, Naval Sea Systems Command; and James Geurts assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition. https://www.navysnaevents.org/national-symposium
9 a.m. 4301 Wilson Blvd., Arl. — Intelligence and National Security Alliance forum on “2020 National Security Legal Outlook,” with Jason Klitenic, general counsel in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. https://www.insaonline.org/event
9:30 a.m. SD-G50, Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to consider the nominations of James McPherson to be undersecretary of the Army and Charles Williams, to be assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, installations, and environment. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — Brookings Institution discussion on “Impacts and Implications of the 2020 Taiwan General Elections,” with Jacques deLisle, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for East Asian Studies; Alexander Huang, director of the Tamkang University Institute of Strategic Studies and Institute of American Studies; Thomas Wright, director of the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe; Richard Bush, chair in Taiwan studies at Brookings; and Yun Sun, nonresident fellow at Brookings https://www.brookings.edu/events
3 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. — Hudson Institute releases the Afghanistan Institute of Strategic Studies’ 2019 Report, with Shoaib Rahim, senior adviser at the Afghanistan State Ministry for Peace; Yaqub Ibrahimi, research fellow at AISS; Nazif Shahrani, professor of anthropology at Indiana University; and Husain Haqqani, director for South and Central Asia at Hudson https://www.hudson.org/events
FRIDAY | JANUARY 17
10 a.m. 485 Russell — Middle East Policy Council conference on “U.S.-Iranian Confrontation: Domestic, Regional and Global Implications,” with John Limbert, former deputy assistant secretary of State for Iran; former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Kuwait Douglas Silliman; former U.S. Ambassador to Oman Richard Schmierer, chairman and president of MEPC; Suzanne Maloney, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Middle East Policy; Joyce Karam, Washington correspondent at The National; and Thomas Mattair, executive director of MEPC https://mepc.org/hill-forums
1 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “the growing security challenges posed by U.S. strategic competitors, with Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Air Force Gen. John Hyten; and Kathleen Hicks, director of the CSIS International Security Program. https://www.csis.org/events
MONDAY | JANUARY 20
All day — Federal holiday in observance of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
TUESDAY | JANUARY 21
7:00 a.m. 1775 Liberty Drive, Fort Belvoir — Association of the U.S. Army breakfast with Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville. The event is sold out, but video will be posted afterward at www.ausa.org/live
THURSDAY | JANUARY 23
4 p.m. Bushnell, Florida — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks on U.S. foreign policy at the Sumter County Fairgrounds. https://www.state.gov
FRIDAY | JANUARY 24
9:00 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies Global Security Forum “Emerging Technologies Governance,” featuring a keynote address from Defense Secretary Mark Esper and discussion with Kathleen Hicks, CSIS senior vice president. Also with Samuel Brannen, CSIS; Gabrielle Burrell, minister counsellor defense policy, Embassy of Australia; Andrew Hunter, CSIS; Jason Matheny, former director, intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity; Suzanne Spaulding, CSIS; and Brig Gen. Benjamin Watson, vice chief of naval research and commander Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. Live streamed at https://www.csis.org/events/global-security-forum
WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 29
11:30 a.m. 1667 K St. N.W. — Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment discussion of new report, “Taking Back the Seas: Transforming the U.S. Surface Fleet for Decision-Centric Warfare,” with Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly. https://files.constantcontact.com
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The Afghan military, and particularly Afghan police has been a hopeless nightmare and a disaster … I don’t blame the military, but you can’t bring in a Black Hawk pilot to train an Afghan policeman on how to do police work, and that’s what we were doing, we’re still doing.”
John Sopko, the Pentagon’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, testifying before Congress Wednesday.
